Contents

The Commission to Organise the Party of the Workers of
Ethiopia

Following the 1974 revolution that led to Haile Selassie's ouster and eventual death
in prison, the Soviet
Union began to pressure the Derg to create a civilian based vanguard party. Mengistu Haile Mariam, leader of
the Derg and head of state of Ethiopia, argued against such a
party, stating that the revolution had succeeded without one and
that there was no need. However, by the late 1970s, in the face of
increasing armed opposition to the Derg's rule, it became
increasingly apparent that a civilian party would be required to
gain any measure of control over the population. In December 1979,
Mengistu announced the creation of the Commission to Organise the
Party of the Workers of Ethiopia (COPWE).

A number of mass
organisations, such as the Revolutionary Ethiopia Youth
Association, were also established. It was hoped that these
organisations would help lead to a unified party that would
eliminate sectarianism and be based on broad (yet
clearly defined) class interests. The organisations were
also to act as the political consciousness of Ethiopia at a more
personal level by not only representing Ethiopians at congresses, but also in the
workplace and in educational institutes. Membership in
multiple mass organisations was encouraged.

The COPWE held three congresses for the mass organisations it
had set up, and despite the best efforts of the government to
encourage diversity, more than one third of those present at the
first congress, in 1980, were either soldiers or Addis Ababa
residents.

The 1980 congress unveiled the membership of the COPWE's Central
Committee and Secretariat. The Secretariat, which
controlled the more day to day aspects of the Central Committee
business and was supervised by the top Derg leadership, was
composed of mainly civilian ideologues. Regional branches of the
Secretariat coordinated by army officers helped complement the
COPWE's central leadership. The organisation became more powerful
in 1981 with the creation of separate offices for administrator and
COPWE representative in each region.

By 1983, there were about 50,000 COPWE members and approximately
6,500 party cells. Despite Mengistu's earlier calls for ideological
purity and the need for "committed communists", ideology soon
became a simple façade for the Derg's efforts to eliminate its
political opponents regardless of actual political beliefs, and
loyalty to the Derg was preferred over dedication to Marxism-Leninism in considerations for
party membership. By this time, the military and police had also become the majority in the
membership of the Central Committee, with 79 of its 123 members
being soldiers, twenty of whom were also Derg members.

The formation of the
vanguard party

The Workers' Party of Ethiopia was finally established on
September 12, 1984, to mark the tenth anniversary of the
revolution. The COPWE was dissolved and the WPE took its place. The
Central Committee was expanded to 183 members, with party
congresses every five years. Mengistu became general secretary.

The WPE's Politburo,
which replaced the COPWE's Executive Committee as Ethiopia's
chief decision making body, had eleven members, seven of whom were
drawn from the Derg and the
remaining four being civilian ideologues and technocrats. Generally, Mengistu's wishes
prevailed over any opposition. The nepotism involved in the selection of
Politburo members meant that opposition to Mengistu was usually
marginal anyway, making the entire council more of a mouthpiece for
Mengistu's wishes than a legitimate government body.

At a national level, membership of the WPE was heavily slanted
towards soldiers and members of certain ethnic groups that had, historically,
endorsed the concept of a unified "greater Ethiopia", such as the
Tigray and Amhara. However,
at regional and local levels, ethnicity and military service became
less relevant, with large numbers of civilians and members of
various ethnicities in positions of power.

The WPE's position as "formulator of the country's development
process and the leading force of the state and in society" was
enshrined into law by the 1987
Ethiopian constitution, which also dissolved the Derg and
renamed the country the People's
Democratic Republic of Ethiopia. The constitution gave the
party more political power than the government itself, with local
party leaders given almost free rein provided their policies did
not conflict with Addis Ababa's.

Demise

Following Mengistu's ouster by an armed insurrection and the end
of Soviet support in 1990, the WPE's power began to unravel, and
the party officially renounced Marxism and declared Mixed Economy.
After Mengistu fled the country, the rebels finally took over power
in 1991. The new government disband the WPE and most of its leaders
were put in prison for the crimes they allegedly committed during
their reign.